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Thursday, January 8, 2009

Federal Reserve says borrowing by consumers fell by $8 billion in November, falling at a much faster rate than had been predicted by economists.

By Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com staff writerJanuary 8, 2009: 3:23 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Consumer borrowing decreased sharply in November as the weak economy continued to weigh on household budgets.

The Federal Reserve said Thursday that consumer borrowing fell by $8 billion in November to $2.571 trillion from an upwardly revised $2.579 trillion in October.

The annual rate of consumer borrowing fell by 3.7% in the month. In October, the annual rate fell by 1.3%.

Credit card borrowing, or revolving debt, declined at an annual rate of 3.4%. Non-revolving borrowing, including student and auto loans, fell $5.2 billion dollars, or 2.1% on an annual basis.

Economists were expecting consumer credit to have remained unchanged in November, according to a consensus of economists' estimates gathered by Briefing.com.

No kidding? Less than expected? By whom? that was an all-time record decline. Once again, it’s hard to get inflation out of that, and remember that these figures do not fully reflect the total collapse of non-consumer credit generated by the Shadow Banking System.